Where do our recipes come from? Recipe development @ The Spicery.

Although the majority of the manpower here at The Spicery involves measuring and packing spices, and sending them out the door, the heart of it all is in the test kitchen above the warehouse. Here, development chefs Alice and Matt cook every day, testing recipes out on the rest of the staff. From romantic three course meals for two, to quick curry recipe kits, to ways-to-use-various-ingredients, it all gets tested here at lunch (or occasionally mid-afternoon, when it’s a dessert!) So where do these recipes come from? First and foremost, travel! The whole fun of what we do is bringing a bit of the wider world into your own kitchen, trying something from somewhere new, and learning about how people use similar ingredients to make something totally different. Everyone here is encouraged to do some research if they’re going somewhere interesting so that we can discover hidden gems or learn something new. Within the past twelve months alone we’ve carried out food and recipe research in Burma, New Mexico, Manchester, Indonesia, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Chettinad, Provence and Peru! (You can read all about these spice adventures on the Travel Blog!) The recipes that are brought back then go into a bank of recipes and ideas for us to use for future spiceboxes. This month’s BBQ Around the World spicebox is a Caribbean spread influenced by James’ trip to Trinidad two years ago, with an accompanying hibiscus sauce introduced to us by Sharon, one of our Refugee Action guest chefs last year. We also source recipes from spicerers who have worked here over the years and forayed into the kitchen with dishes from their friends and family around the world.  For example, this month’s Friday Night Curry Discoverer recipe originates with Gifty, who was one of our Christmas temps in 2015 - groundnut curry is one of Gifty’s favourite dishes from her home country of Ghana. Another regular in the kitchen is head spicerer Tung, who cooks us dishes from his parent’s hometown Huế in Vietnam. Many of us have friends or families from other countries so we make the most of these contacts when possible, asking them to verify a taste, provide some insight, or send us a recipe! Alongside this, we have a network of contacts all over the world who send recipes, suggestions and feedback. These are individuals and chefs who we source information from, or who assist our research when visiting the country! Our link-up with Refugee Action has built this network even further. In 2015 we supported Refugee Action to produce a three course recipe kit using recipes from various nations (the Refugee Action Big Night In box). To create this, we had eight different guest refugee chefs come in and cook dishes with us from their home nations, bringing little-known dishes into the limelight.  (Read all about this here.) Many of these recipes have also gone on to become recipe kits in our range, with a portion of the proceeds going to Refugee Action - such as a Ugandan Lamb Pilau with chilli sauce, Sudanese Gima, and Iranian Lamb Mofotah with pickles. Some of these people also remain in our network of recipe development contacts. ...And last but certainly not least, research! We collect cookbooks like fridges collect magnets (current favourites include books on Turkish and West Indian Creole cuisines), but a lot of research happens online. We also have an archive of all our previous recipes and the side dishes that went with them for inspiration. So although there are at least 7 spiceboxes, 3 recipe kits and a few other blends to develop every single month, we never seem to run out of ideas! If you have any questions about our recipes (or any great ideas!), do get in touch at mail@thespicery.com. Happy spicing!